1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for classifying a vehicle occupant, and, more particularly, to a system for classifying a vehicle occupant which classifies a vehicle occupant sitting in the seat of a vehicle in order to deploy an airbag only for an occupant who has an age equal to or greater than certain age or certain physical requirements.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in many cases, airbags are installed for passenger seats as well as a driver's seat.
Such airbags are deployed when a collision between vehicles occurs, and thus protecting vehicle occupants. In the case of an adult, there is no problem when using an airbag, but in the case of a small child, a deployed airbag may act as a dangerous factor that threatens its life thereof. Therefore, whether an airbag for a passenger seat should be deployed must be determined depending on the type of vehicle occupant.
With reference to FIG. 1, criteria for airbag deployment according to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) 208 will be described. According to the FMVSS 208, in the case of adults, an airbag is to be deployed, but in the case of small children 6 years old or younger, an airbag must be prevented from being deployed. The reason for this is to protect small children 6 years old or younger using a separate Child Restraint System (CRS), rather than an airbag in the event of accidents.
In order to discriminate between adults and small children, as described above, a vehicle occupant classification system must be installed in the seat Some currently used vehicle occupant classification systems basically use the differences in weight between adults and small children. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a conventional system for classifying a vehicle occupant is configured such that a control unit 4 identifies vehicle occupants using input values from four weight sensors S1 to S4 installed between the leg frames 2 and moving rails 3 of a seat 1, and the results of the sensing are transmitted to an Airbag Control Unit (ACU).
However, the above-described conventional system for classifying a vehicle occupant has problems in that the price thereof is relatively high because it requires four weight sensors, and that it is difficult to install in a seat and the burden of work increases because respective components of the system are individually installed in a seat.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.